A 24/7 HVAC doctor-in-residence

Retragreen is an Australian start-up which has embedded AI into a product that enables rapid, remote energy monitoring at a granular level. The Retragreen unit combines hardware and software with a Bluetooth capability that gathers information from a BMS about HVAC energy use, lighting energy use and other systems, and then translates it into energy performance benchmarking and data.

According to the company, where a conventional energy audit involves a number of hours onsite by a consultant, this solution can be deployed for remote information gathering. The AI does the labour of crunching numbers, reducing the manual analytical workload, Lay explains.

“The AI is not positioned as a replacement for consultants, auditors, BMS teams or building managers,” he says. “It is designed to do the heavy analytical lifting, support human decision-making, and make first-level HVAC insights more accessible and scalable.”

HVAC is a specific focus, as it is one of the most significant energy loads in a building.

“This makes HVAC a useful entry point for energy reduction,” Lay explains.

Retragreen says HVAC data is also valuable for emissions reporting and for developing operational optimisation strategies and building retrofit and upgrade pathways.

Who is using it and how?

The technology has already been deployed for buildings in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and China. These include the 100-storey TRX Building in Malaysia, and the headquarters of the Singapore Government’s Ministry of Manpower.

According to Retragreen, the data produced by the AI agent has helped building managers and consultants associated with those assets to achieve energy savings of up to 28%, depending on building type, operations and implementation approach.

Lay says these savings were achieved without capital outlay or equipment upgrades.

The analysis delivered by the AI highlights where the operational wins might be, and where aspects of the HVAC system are inefficient or suboptimal.

“Every piece of equipment in a building has its specifications for normal operational frequencies and energy use. The level of detail the asset owner or facilities manager inputs into the system will influence the level of detail the AI can access,” Lay says.

The level of detail will also depend on the configuration of the building system, for example, whether a VSD in a chilled water system pump has a specific sensor that sends data to the BMS.

The Retragreen units can either be taken to site, and used directly, or sent to site and the information uploaded via the cloud. They can also be used to gather data from older, analogue BMS systems, Lay says.

“The AI is like a doctor for the asset owner, it can say ‘this is where the problem is,’ but it won’t do the treatment.”

What the owner will receive is a roster of possible opportunities and recommendations for improving energy efficiency.

Real-time monitoring

Beyond the use of the technology for energy efficiency and building audits as an occasional activity, Lay says there are options for installing it as a 24/7 support for building management. This might look like the system sending alerts if performance of building services deviate from the expected set-points, or if a system shows signs of breakdown or faults.

At the core of the technology solution is a real-time optimisation engine providing granular, system-wide visibility across HVAC operations, which resolves performance down to component and zone level.

By continuously analysing variables such as equipment behavior, supply air conditions, and occupancy demand, the AI platform is designed to dynamically adjust airflow, temperature set-points, and equipment sequencing to improve overall system efficiency.

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